V.L.E. Models 1/144
Wibault-Penhoet 282.T12/283.T12
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History
As early as 1925 designer Michel Wibault was conducting studies, which
were to result, in 1930, in his first all metal tri-motor airliner, the
Model 280T. This design quickly evolved into the 282/283 series, of which
a total of 18 were built. All were ultimately operated by Air France;
two having been first operated by Air Union and two others were briefly
operated by the French government.
The two Air Union airplanes, F-AMHN and F-AMHO featured a striking overall
gold with red livery. In Air France service the Wibaults were finished
in overall silver with dark blue trim.
The Kit
This is the first V.L.E. kit I’ve seen. The main parts are vacuum
formed on a single 10 ½” x 4 ¼” sheet of .035”
white styrene. The quality and sharpness of the forming is about average
for vacs that have been in production for a while. The undercarriage trousers
and engines are cast in resin; the wheels and propellers are cast in white
metal. The quality of these resin and white metal castings is fair but,
the engines especially, will need a lot of fine cleaning up. No tail wheel
is provided. A short length of Contrail strut stock is included for the
tail braces.
The decals are very good. The decals and the instructions provide for
two airplanes. One is 282.T12, F-AMHO, in air Union’s gold and red;
the other is 283.T12, F-AMYD, in Air France’s silver and blue. The
282 is without the good looking undercarriage trousers fitted to the Air
France planes.
The two sheets of instructions provide a brief history, seven assembly
tips, an exploded isometric drawing and two pages of color and markings
instructions.
There is one very big detail problem with this otherwise nice kit; the
engines provided are nine cylinder radials. The 282/283s had 350hp Gnome-Rhone
seven cylinder Titan Major 7Kd engines. The kit engines are also single
sided castings with no detail on their backsides. This is bad because
the Townend Ring cowlings, with forward exhaust collectors, make the backsides
very visible. The kit engines are also too small for the cowlings. I’m
thinking I’ll cut the 14 best cylinders off the three engines, fiddle
them together to make fronts and backs and attach the seven resulting
cylinders to a new, slightly larger crankcase to make a master for duplication
in resin. That’s quite a lot of work to get a 1/144 scale engine
that’s only about 3/8” (9mm) in diameter. Does any reader
know of an easier way to get a fairly well detailed, generic seven-cylinder
radial engine? Or three? Whilst I’m being critical of the engines
I should also mention that the engine cowlings, with the exhaust collectors
set into their leading edges, don’t look quite right because the
exhaust collectors are too large in diameter. A glance at photos will
confirm this. I’d suggest making new exhaust collectors from either
plastic rod or copper wire of the correct diameter and also making new
cowlings of .010” sheet styrene.
Robert Wheeler’s V.L.E. Models currently offer 12 kits. For information
go to…….
Conclusion
This kit is quite buildable and will produce a very attractive 1930s
era airliner. Be prepared, however, for a lot of time-consuming work on
the engines and cowlings. To see a model very well built from this kit,
go to…….
https://www.arcair.com/Fea1/901-1000/Fea953_Wibault283T_Bigey/fea953.htm
This kit sells for $10.00 directly from Bob Wheeler. I won mine in the
recent Wings Of Peace contest.
References
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Aeroplane Monthly, September 1984, Wings Of Peace, John Stroud.
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Airliners Between the Wars: K. Munson, MacMillan, USA, 1972, Library
of Congress # 72-78614.
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Skyways No. 21.
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World Encyclopedia of Civil Aircraft: E. Angelucci, Crown, USA,
1992, ISBN 0-517-54724-4.
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European Transport Aircraft since 1910: John Stroud, Putnam, UK,
1966, Library of Congress # 66-28846.
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Phototheque No. 1, L’ Aviation Civile Francaise 1919-1939:
Jean Francoise Oller, Avia editions, France.
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The Illustrated International Aircraft Guide, Airliners of the 1930s:
John Stroud & Bill Gunston, Phoebus Pubs., UK, 1981.
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Macmillen Color Series – AirlinersBetween the Wars 1919-1939:
Kenneth Munson, Macmillen, USA, 1972, Library of Congress #72-78614.
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Rand McNally Color Illustrated Guides – World Aircraft 1918-1935:
E. angelucci & P. Matricardi, Rand McNally, USA, 1976, ISBN 0-528-88166-3.
NOTE: Alex Bigey lists some more, French, references in his build article
linked above. These are not available to me.
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